17.3. NetWare Emulation with MARSNWE

The NetWare emulator MARSNWE can easily replace
the file and print services of a Novell NetWare 2.2 or 3.11 server. It can
also be be used in this manner as an IPX router. However, it does not offer
the features of newer NetWare versions, such as NDS (NetWare Directory
Services). Workstations running DOS or Windows already configured to access a
NetWare 2.2, 3.11, or 3.12 server can use the Linux server with the NetWare
emulator MARSNWE as a server without changing the
configuration much. Server administration can be done under Linux.

17.3.1. Starting the NetWare Emulator MARSNWE

On a SUSE LINUX system, MARSNWE comes
preconfigured for initial testing, so you can start it right after
installation. The required IPX kernel support is available as a loadable
kernel module and is automatically loaded by the start script. The IPX
interface is automatically set up by MARSNWE. At
this point, the network number and the protocol to use are both read from
the extensively commented configuration file
/etc/nwserv.conf.

Start MARSNWE with the command
rcnwestart. The
done message to the right of the screen in green
indicates that MARSNWE has been successfully
started.
Use rcnwestatus to check whether the
NetWare emulator is running. Halt it with rcnwestop.

17.3.2. The Configuration File /etc/nwserv.conf

The configuration options are grouped in numbered sections — every
configuration line starts with the number of the corresponding section. Only
sections 1 to 22 are relevant for our purposes and among these there are
some which are not used. The following sections should be sufficient to
cover most configuration scenarios:

1

NetWare Volumes

2

Server Name

4

IPX Network

13

User Names

21

Printers

After modifying the configuration, MARSNWE must
be restarted with the command rcnwerestart.

The configuration options in detail are:

Volumes (Section 1):

1 SYS /usr/local/nwe/SYS/ kt 711 600

Here, the volumes to export are defined. Every line begins with the
section number (here 1), followed by the volume name and the server
directory path. In addition, specify various options, represented
by specific letters, and a umask for the generation of both directories
and files. If a umask is not specified, the default value from Section 9
is used. The volume for SYS is already entered. To avoid problems with
uppercase and lowercase letters in the file names, it is recommended to
use the k option, so all the file names are
converted to lowercase letters.

Server Name (Section 2):

2 MARS

This setting is optional. The host name is used by default.

Internal Network Number (Section 3):

3 auto

The internal network number is generated from the network card's MAC
address if auto is specified here. This setting is
usually retained.

IPX Configuration (Section 4):

4 0x0 * AUTO 1
4 0x22 eth0 ethernet_ii 1

This sets the NetWare network number as well as the network
interface to which it should be bound with which protocol. The first
example sets up everything automatically. The second binds the
network number 0x22 to the network card
eth0 with the frame type Ethernet-II. If
you have several network cards and enter all these with different network
numbers, IPX is routed among them.

Create Mode (Section 9):

9 0751 0640

Sets the default permission with which directories and files are
created.

GID and GID with minimal permissions (Section 10, 11):

10 65534
11 65534

Group ID and user ID for users not logged in. Here nogroup and nobody.

Supervisor Login (Section 12):

12 SUPERVISOR root

The supervisor is mapped to user root.

User Logins (Section 13):

13 LINUX linux

Specifies how NetWare user names are mapped to Linux user names. A fixed
password can optionally be entered here.

Automatic User Mapping (Section 15):

15 0 top-secret

If 1 is specified here instead of
0, Linux logins are automatically made available
as NetWare logins. In this case, the password is
“top-secret”.

Printer Queues (Section 21):

21 LP - lpr -

The first parameter LP is the name of the
NetWare printer. Second, the name of the spool directory can be given.
The print command is listed last.

Print Server (Section 22):

22 PS_NWE LP_PS 1

Define printers here that are accessed over the
pserver by ncpfs.

17.3.3. Access to and Administration of NetWare Servers

ncpfs is a collection of small
programs that can be used to administer a NetWare 2.2 or 3.11 server from
Linux, mount NetWare volumes, and manage printers. To access a newer NetWare
server (version 4 or higher), enable the bindery emulation and
IPX on it.

The following programs are available. Refer to the manual pages for their
functions:

nwmsg

ncopy

ncpmount

ncpumount

nprint

nsend

nwauth

nwbocreate

nwbols

nwboprops

nwborm

nwbpadd

nwbpcreate

nwbprm

nwbpset

nwbpvalues

nwdir

nwdpvalues

nwfsctrl

nwfsinfo

nwfstime

nwgrant

nwpasswd

nwpurge

nwrevoke

nwrights

nwsfind

nwtrustee

nwtrustee2

nwuserlist

nwvolinfo

pqlist

pqrm

pqstat

pserver

slist

As one essential command of this suite, ncpmount
can be used to mount volumes of a NetWare server from a Linux host. The
ncpumount command, on the other hand,
unmounts them. In addition, ncpfs
contains tools to configure the IPX protocol and IPX routing:

ipx_cmd
ipx_configure
ipx_interface
ipx_internal_net
ipx_route

With ipx_configure and ipx_interface,
configure the the network card's IPX. If you already have
MARSNWE running, however, it takes care of
this configuration automatically.

17.3.4. IPX Router with ipxrip

Another package for converting Linux into an IPX router is ipxrip. Usually, it is not needed, because an
IPX router can be configured with MARSNWE or the tools from ncpfs.